


It's Not About The Movies

by LuxObscura



Series: Recon, Ruction, Recover, Relax [3]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-26
Updated: 2015-05-26
Packaged: 2018-04-01 07:24:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4010977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuxObscura/pseuds/LuxObscura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a road Natasha's been down before, and it helps that this time Thor is paving the way with a gift basket.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Not About The Movies

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Black Widow and Loki go to see LOTR, and get kicked out for snarky comments about….. ???

“You want me to do what?” Natasha keeps the incredulity out of her voice, but only just.

Thor’s eyes are open and honest. “My brother needs more stimulation than I can provide him.” 

Clint snorts into his coffee and Natasha glances away from Thor to glare at him.

“I’m not sure why you think I’m qualified to provide … stimulation to your brother.”

Clint chokes openly this time and Natasha smiles, small and vicious.

“Lady Natasha, while he is contained in the tower my brother has no access to his magics, but he remains as sharp-witted and silver-tongued as ever. In this history of all his Midgardian exploits, only you have ever bested him at his own mind games. He would need only a few hours out of confinement, perhaps up here on the common floors where he can see the sun and the sky, experience the company of another. I will be gone for only one of your Midgardian days.” Thor looks at Natasha earnestly, honestly, although Natasha has never known him to be anything else. She chews gently at the edge of her lip as she considers.

“Yeah, ok. I’ll do it. But I expect the Asgardian equivalent of a gift basket for my trouble.” She thinks warmly of alien fruits, magical unguents and soothing smells and textures. 

Thor’s brow furrows, but Clint, having cleared the coffee from his airway waves a hand. “I know what she means. I’ll explain it on the way to spring your brother from holding.” Count on Clint to understand her sensual predilection for self-care.

“Truly, you are a strong warrior, but more importantly you are a good friend.” Thor’s smile really does have a way of warming up a room, and it’s almost enough to quell Natasha’s misgivings. Almost.

*****

An hour later, Loki is settled on a couch in the common area. He looks so much smaller out of his Asgardian regalia. The soft gray sweatpants, t-shirt and sweatshirt he’s been given are warm, serviceable and nondescript, but the fuzzy red slippers with the Iron Man mask embroidered on them are probably Tony’s personal touch. Natasha isn’t sure if she’s amused or embarrassed on Loki’s behalf. She settles on both.

“So, the Black Widow. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Loki’s smile is all oil and teeth.

“Your brother’s paying me in the Asgardian equivalent of LUSH to babysit you outside your cell for a day. Though, why he thinks I’m some kind of good influence I’ve got no idea. Gummy bear?” Natasha offers the bag to Loki, who regards it with a raised eyebrow.

“Thank you, no. Though the last time I was here Mr. Stark offered me a drink and he never did make good on the offer, so perhaps if you could be so kind…?”

“Bar’s off limits, as is the coffee machine. No alcohol, no caffeine. But I am authorized to offer you twenty different kinds of takeout and more or less the entire rest of the contents of the kitchen. As for entertainment, we have access to just about every movie ever made.”

Loki rolls his eyes and leans into the couch, tipping his head back to stare at the ceiling. “I’m sorry, I can’t do this. I can’t even be bothered to pretend this isn’t excruciatingly boring and blatantly humiliating. It’s an insult to my intelligence and my status as a prince—“

“Former prince.”

“Shut up. And it’s an insult to you as well. Tell me, Agent Romanoff, aren’t you even the slightest bit offended at being pressed into service as a glorified babysitter? Your skills are the stuff of legend. Your name used to strike fear into the hearts of men and women the world over. ‘Don’t stray out of line or the Black Widow will come for you.’ People would quake with fear. And this is what they’ve reduced you to? I wouldn’t blame you for being angry. No one would.” Loki’s head lolls to one side so he can regard Natasha out of half-lidded eyes. “Are you angry, Agent Romanoff?”

Natasha digs through the bag of gummy bears, comes up with an orange one and pops it neatly into her mouth, chewing it slowly while she fixes Loki with a level stare. Slowly, the corners of her mouth lift into a smile. “Nah, anger management is more Bruce’s thing. You remember Bruce, right?” Loki flinches, but only just. “Besides, it’s my day off and I was just going to watch a movie anyway. Steve’s been trying to get me to watch Lord of the Rings. Settle in, your highness.” Her smile becomes a full-on grin and she flicks a green gummy bear at him. Loki swats it out of the air and glares. “Cue up the movie please, JARVIS.”

The lights in the common area dim as the movie rolls. Barely-contained anger is rolling off Loki in waves, but Natasha ignores that. It’s part of her skill set, after all; ignoring people who desperately want to not be ignored.

*****

The sound of raised voices greets Thor as he steps off the elevator. He immediately identifies them as Lady Natasha and Loki and his steps quicken as he bursts into the room, hand on his hammer.

“The eagles though, it’s complete deus ex machina!” Natasha is staring mutinously at the screen, crushing a handful of popcorn to dust in her fist.

“How many times is this thing going to fade to black before it’s over!” A chocolate nonpareil bounces off the screen.

Thor clears his throat. Natasha and Loki fall silent as the soundtrack swells again.

“Uh. Hi?” Natasha sounds hesitant.

“Brother! How was your meeting? Boring and interminable, I hope?” Loki grins.

“I heard shouting. I thought— I assumed the worst.”

“No, the worst would be these movies. They’re overly long, self-indulgent and utterly mind-numbing. And I’ve had to sit through your epic sagas around the dinner table for hundreds of years.” Loki grins slyly at Thor and Natasha thinks she can see a hint of the brothers they used to be.

“No harm done, Thor. Except maybe to my respect for Steve’s cinematic tastes.”

Thor regards them both for a second with a cool, measuring gaze. “So the two of you had an agreeable afternoon?”

“Most agreeable,” confirms Loki.

“Mostly,” says Natasha with an almost-smile. 

Thor nods. “Come, brother. I will escort you back downstairs.” Natasha notices he carefully avoids using the word ‘cell’. “Lady Natasha, I thank you for your help and your indulgence in this matter.”

Natasha shrugs. “No worries.”

As Loki and Thor leave, Natasha begins cleaning up the remains of their snack food binge and pretends not to hear Clint slip into the room.

“I made you watch all of Star Wars,” he says without preamble while he begins neatly stacking discarded cups together.

“You did. I hated it.”

“Yeah, but you let me hate it with you and throw Sweettarts at the screen. It was the first time since I brought you in that we… well, that you were hating something besides me or yourself or SHIELD. And we were hating it together.” And if Clint’s voice gets a little softer at the end of the sentence, Natasha pretends not to notice.

“You were only pretending to hate it for my sake.”

“You knew?”

“Of course I knew. I’m a Russian super-spy. And you’re a red-blooded white American boy who would have been the perfect age range for those movies when they came out.” Natasha smiles gently. “I never thanked you for that, by the way.”

“For pretending?”

“For pretending to hate something you loved just for me.” Natasha tucks a stray piece of hair behind her ear and looks up at Clint. Her eyes have gone soft, and Clint’s looking back at her with the same gentleness, cleaning spree temporarily forgotten.

“Well, you’re welcome. For that and… all the rest.” He reaches out and runs a thumb gently down her cheek.

They look at each other for a long moment, and then by unspoken agreement, return to cleaning up the common area.

*****

Thor’s gift basket arrives the following week, stuffed to overflowing with all manner of Asgardian fruits, flowers, oils, lotions, perfumes, ointments and some things that Natasha can’t identify. Everything is helpfully labeled in Jane’s precise handwriting, and she’s included a list of suggestions on how to best enjoy everything. 

Natasha draws herself a hot bath and sprinkles in some things from the basket. As she sinks into the hot, scented water she bites into a blissfully juicy fruit that was definitely not grown under the sun of this earth and thinks about the long road coming in from the cold and how much easier it is when someone else walks it with you.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on [tumblr](http://lux-obscura.tumblr.com)!


End file.
